A legislative panel packed with tobacco-industry donation recipients used new legislative rules to kill a measure that would have banned most indoor smoking in Virginia, the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot reported Feb. 25.

Of the six member of a House General Laws subcommittee that voted unanimously against the bill, three were among the state's top five recipients of tobacco-industry donations during the 2004-05 election season. Two also owned stock in Altria, parent company of R.J.. Reynolds, which lobbied against the measure.

"The heritage of the tobacco industry always makes it difficult to work on tobacco-control measures," noted Donna Reynolds of the American Lung Association of Virginia.

However, even Sen. J. Brandon Bell (R-Roanoke), the bill's sponsor, accepted $1,000 from the tobacco industry last year. Committee members insisted that the tobacco money had nothing to do with their votes.

The members took advantage of new House rules that allow subcommittees to kill legislation. Bell argued that any bill that passed the Senate should be allowed a vote before the full House General Laws committee.